Mark Zuckerberg got himself into hot water Wednesday after suggesting that Holocaust deniers are not “intentionally getting it wrong” while explaining why they won’t be policed on Facebook.

In a lengthy interview with Recode published Wednesday, Recode co-founder Kara Swisher pressed the Facebook CEO to explain how he can simultaneously say he is combating the spread of false information on Facebook but won’t issue a firm rebuke to conspiracy content that claims, for instance, that the Sandy Hook massacre didn’t happen.

Zuckerberg dug himself into an even deeper hole by offering up Holocaust denialism as another example of Facebook content he wouldn’t remove from the network.

“I’m Jewish, and there’s a set of people who deny that the Holocaust happened,” Zuckerberg said. “I find that deeply offensive. But at the end of the day, I don’t believe that our platform should take that down because I think there are things that different people get wrong. I don’t think that they’re intentionally getting it wrong. I think ―”

Swisher quickly interrupted him to question his choice of example.

“In the case of the Holocaust deniers, they might be, but go ahead,” she interjected.

But Zuckerberg doubled down, implying that there is a good-faith debate happening on Facebook about the systematic slaughter of around 6 million Jewish people during World War II.

“It’s hard to impugn intent and to understand the intent,” Zuckerberg responded. “I just think, as abhorrent as some of those examples are, I think the reality is also that I get things wrong when I speak publicly. I’m sure you do. I’m sure a lot of leaders and public figures we respect do too, and I just don’t think that it is the right thing to say, ‘We’re going to take someone off the platform if they get things wrong, even multiple times.’”

Critics quickly picked up on Zuckerberg’s comments, noting that his logic casts doubt on Facebook’s ability to prevent another Cambridge Analytica scandal or the additional spread of Russian propaganda during a U.S. election.

So now Mark Zuckerberg is defending Holocaust deniers because they are sincere. https://t.co/IxbFe2Hy9H

— Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) July 18, 2018

Holocaust deniers are malicious, violent, and mean exactly what they say. They deny the genocide of six million Jews and others, including five of my family members.

For Mark Zuckerberg, one of the most powerful men in the world, to cut them slack is despicable.

— marisa kabas (@MarisaKabas) July 18, 2018

Mark Zuckerberg told Congress that Facebook’s AI would solve its hate-speech problem in 5-10 years. But he can’t seem to outline a policy that would classify even “Holocaust denial” as over the line https://t.co/kFQurze4pU

— Drew Harwell (@drewharwell) July 18, 2018

If *Holocaust denial* is Zuckerberg’s chosen example of something Facebook wouldn’t police, why should anyone have confidence the company wants to deal seriously with more pedestrian kinds of misinformation?

— Alex Burns (@alexburnsNYT) July 18, 2018

Zuckerberg followed up on his comments to say Facebook has a removal policy for content encouraging any harm or violence, but that false news ― even viral content that makes it into the top 100 items trending on Facebook in a given day ― would only be downgraded by the platform’s algorithm so it’s seen by fewer users.